Exactly what did it say was missing?
Troubleshooting Mac Startup or Power Up Problems
What to Do When Your Mac Won't Power Up At All
How to abort a macOS installation loop
[A solution provided by user danbeacs. I have edited where needed.]
I noticed a lot of people having trouble with this.
When you've downloaded Mac OS Sierra on your MacBook but either the file is corrupted or you've run out of disk space, it's nearly impossible to get out of the loop by restarting your computer.
When you reboot, a dialogue box saying “Mac OS cannot be installed” may pop up. Click anywhere on the box and the top menubar will appear. Open Disk Utility and select the grayed out Macintosh HD (or whatever you have named your startup disk,) then press “Mount” - this will take a few moments. If you want to hedge your bet, click on Mac OS Sierra and select “First Aid”, to try and repair any issues with it.
Once your startup drive appears as a mounted drive, go back into the top menu, click the Apple Menu and select “Startup Disk.” The Mac’s HDD should appear. Select it, and then you can click “Restart’” on the installation box.
A nightmarish problem with a fairly simple solution. I learned the hard way. I hope this helps.
A Troubleshooting Procedure that may Fix Problems with macOS El Capitan or Later
You should try each, one at a time, then test to see if the problem is fixed before going on to the next.
Be sure to backup your files before proceeding if possible.
- Shutdown the computer, wait 30 seconds, restart the computer.
- Disconnect all third-party peripherals.
- Resetting your Mac’s PRAM and NVRAM
- Reset the System Management Controller (SMC)
- Reset your Startup Disk and Sound preferences.
- Start the computer in Safe Mode. Test in safe mode to see if the problem persists, then restart normally.
- Use Apple Hardware Test to see if there is any hardware malfunction.
- Repair the disk by booting from the Recovery HD. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Utility Menu appears. Choose Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the indented (usually, Macintosh HD) volume entry from the side list. Click on the First Aid button in the toolbar. Wait for the Done button to appear. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu. Restart the computer from the Apple Menu.
- Repair permissions on the Home folder: Resolve issues caused by changing the permissions of items in your home folder.
- Create a New User Account Open Users & Groups preferences. Click on the lock icon and enter your Admin password when prompted. On the left under Current User click on the Add [+] button under Login Options. Setup a new Admin user account. Upon completion log out of your current account then log into the new account. If your problems cease, then consider switching to the new account and transferring your files to it - Transferring files from one User Account to another.
- Download and install the OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 Combo Update or 10.12.6 Combo Update or Download macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 Combo Update as needed.
- Reinstall OS X by booting from the Recovery HD using the Command and R keys. When the Utility Menu appears select Reinstall OS X then click on the Continue button.
- Erase and Install OS X Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Apple logo appears. When the Utility Menu appears:
- Select Disk Utility from the Utility Menu and click on Continue button.
- When Disk Utility loads select the drive (out-dented entry) from the Device list.
- Click on the Erase icon in Disk Utility's toolbar. A panel will drop down.
- Set the Format type to APFS (for SSDs only) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
- Click on the Apply button, then wait for the Done button to activate and click on it.
- Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
- Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.
If none of the above helps then make an appointment at the Apple Genius Bar for service. If you need to find an Apple Store - Find a Store - Apple.
